WISE, a mission that will find ALL the neighbours |
WISE, a mission that will find ALL the neighbours |
Aug 27 2009, 08:31 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
I'm used to reading excellent articles by Emily, but this one I found to be of truly extraordinary interest:
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002070/ |
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Dec 13 2009, 04:49 AM
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
I think those kinds of details are funny. It's amazing all the weird, different ad-hoc solutions it takes to get each unique spacecraft launched. I smirk every time I see the enormous backshell for MSL, because it has a monster hatch (big enough for Buzz Aldrin to fit through) that had to be cut into it so they can install the RTG on to the rover's butt at the very last opportunity before launch, while the spacecraft is stacked on top of the rocket on the launch pad. And they have to have three redundant air conditioning systems in the assembly tower because if things fail, that RTG will heat everything up in a hurry. Every mission has weird stuff like this. It's not like sticking your laptop on top of a firecracker and booting it up after it's safely in orbit -- each spacecraft has to have something difficult even before you launch it.
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